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    Best Movie Watching Software

    Discussion in 'HP' started by cyberbiker, Apr 30, 2008.

  1. cyberbiker

    cyberbiker Notebook Enthusiast

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    It is pretty wierd, but I still find the best software with which to watch movies is WinDVD 5 OEM, which can still be downloaded at
    http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ob-47357-1 . An HP Vista compatible version of it came out in 2007 and it works flawlessly with Vista 64. for video features it is head and shoulders above Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, CyberLink DVD Suite and HP Quickplay. It permits you to bookmark or take snapshots of spots throughout the movie, plays in whatever size window you choose, plays in the compressed or extended time frame you set, permits subtitles and closed caption and permits panning, etc.

    That is more than I can say for WidDVD 8 Gold OEM. Corel does not support OEM versions at all. Unfortunately, the serial number on WinDVD OEM installs, but the WinDVD 8 update patch for Vista fails during installation because it says it is not applicable to the WinDVD 8 OEM version. Without the patch, WinDVD 8 OEM quits a few seconds after starting to play so you are stuck with nothing.

    WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray requires NVIDIA GeForce 7600 or above so its market will be smaller. WinDVD 9 and WinDVD 9 Plus without Blu-ray do not require high end graphics cards, but, given the poor compatibility of v8 Gold, it doesn't seem prudent to sink more money into software from a company with such poor support.
     
    cyberbiker, Apr 30, 2008
    #1
  2. PJ@y-Z

    PJ@y-Z Notebook Evangelist

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    PowerDVD 8 Ultra
     
    PJ@y-Z, Apr 30, 2008
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  3. nobscot6

    nobscot6 Wise One

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    vlc works w/ 64bit vista also........
     
    nobscot6, Apr 30, 2008
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  4. Homeboy

    Homeboy Notebook Consultant

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    VLC is best. It plays absolutley everything, isn't a memory hoog and takes barly a second to load.
     
    Homeboy, Apr 30, 2008
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  5. R4000

    R4000 Notebook Virtuoso

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    I just use WMP with a Cyberlink codec from one of those free packs on the web. It is very basic, but it works..........
     
    R4000, Apr 30, 2008
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  6. kobe_24

    kobe_24 Notebook Deity

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    I agree it would be hard to live without VLC with all the formats and codecs of today’s movie files, but the picture quality of VLC when viewing DVD’s is not the best vs. Power DVD or Win DVD. Now this could just be on my setup that this is so, but there is definitely a picture quality difference when I compare the two (VLC and Power DVD).
     
    kobe_24, Apr 30, 2008
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  7. McGrady

    McGrady Notebook Virtuoso

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    I use VLC for every video format.
     
    McGrady, Apr 30, 2008
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  8. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    I use WMP w/ K-Lite mega codec pack

    does VLC take much resource compared to WMP?
     
    flipfire, Apr 30, 2008
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  9. srunni

    srunni Notebook Deity

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    VLC is amazing, it uses hardly any resources. Two other players to check out as well are MPlayer and Media Player Classic.
     
    srunni, Apr 30, 2008
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  10. McGrady

    McGrady Notebook Virtuoso

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    Doubt it. Haven't checked though because I never use WMP. With VLC, you don't need to use any codec packs, it has all of it already.
     
    McGrady, Apr 30, 2008
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  11. jerry66

    jerry66 Notebook Deity

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    VLC , plays almost anything .
     
    jerry66, Apr 30, 2008
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  12. cyberbiker

    cyberbiker Notebook Enthusiast

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    It seems most comments in this thread focus more on codecs that video features. I find that picture quality is already reduced because we're using tablet laptops. What counts most with me when watching movies is the ability to:

    - bookmark one or more places in the film and go back to them instantly from anywhere else,
    - take frame snapshots anywhere in the film an save them,
    - repeat the same segment over an over regardless of the length,
    - set the screening window to any size for full screen to minuscule.
    - select for pan, wide screen and normal mode,
    - zoom into any area on the screen (good for flicks like Basic Instints),
    - jump back and forth amongst chapters in a film,
    - watch in slow mo down to frame-by-frame.
    - change from commentary mode to normal mode without losing your spot in the film,
    - close the video software at any time and resume the film later where you left off,
    - choose from several equalizer settings,
    - be able to compress the lengthen a scene or the entire movie to fit a specific amount of time,
    - have transparent subtitles or closed caption (handy in noisy environments).

    These are just some of the features WinDVD v5 gives you - all for free at the link on the original post. I also find the interface cleaner in v5 than in subsequent versions where they tried to jazz up the appearance. If you add other video codec packs, it will take advantage of those too.

    To see all the features and setup options just right click anywhere on the screen.

    Post Script
    HP has posted later versions of WindDVD 5 that, WinDVD 8 and even WinDVD 9. Below are some of the links. However, I find WinDVD 5.0.11.1039 (30Jan07) Vista 64 sp34705 still works best on my Vista 64 tx2000z.

    * WinDVD 5.0.11.1166 (23Jul07) Vista 64 sp36515
    * WinDVD 5.0.11.1176 (2Nov07) Vista 64 sp36665
    * WinDVD 8 (Blu-Ray) 8.0.8.321 (5Oct07) sp36353
    * WinDVD 8 (Blu-Ray) Upgrade Web Patch 8.0.8.369 (12 Nov 2007) sp37946
     
    cyberbiker, May 1, 2008
    #12